Death's Embrace
by BTM707
Summary: When more than Hyrule is lost after his climactic battle with Ganondorf, Link can only arrive at one solution to heal his pain. Drabble, death, post-Wind Waker.


_Tonight I learned that a very close friend of mine, one I had just graduated with last week, was killed in a car crash earlier today. I don't know why I wrote this, but it just happened. I don't know why it's Zelda-themed, but it is. I don't know why it's the end of Wind Waker, it's just the first moment that came to mind. The words just kept flowing, so it essentially wrote itself. It's just a small drabble that begins with some thoughts that have been in my head the last few hours. I don't care at all how it is, I just did it to release some emotion, so please don't review and critique some grammatical error I made. I only wrote it with my dear friend in mind._

_Dedicated to you, Kayleigh. You were always impressed by my writing, so here's one just for you. You will always be in my thoughts, and I shall never forget you._

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><p><strong>Death's Embrace<strong>

Death is an odd thing. It has little relevance to you in a day-to-day life, but when it directly affects you it shatters your world. Everything suddenly stops. You sit in disbelief for the first little while. Then it finally hits home.

And what if it's someone you're really close to? When it finally sinks in, that pain is pain like you've never experienced in your life. It's something that makes you want to be alone when you're with others, but has you craving company when you're by yourself. It makes you replay the last time you ever saw them in your mind. If you're close enough to the deceased, it can tear you apart.

Link sat on the Pirate Ship, staring out into the ocean. He couldn't believe what had happened, but the moment never quit reliving itself before him. The worst part was he couldn't even shut his eyes to avoid it. It was always there, taunting him, telling him in grimmest detail what he hadn't done, and what it had cost.

He had been so focused on Ganondorf, so preoccupied with keeping himself alive, that he had momentarily forgotten that Zelda was helping him as well. Their overpowering opponent had put up with her Light Arrows for the first few minutes of their fight, but when he had finally had enough…

Link shuddered. He hadn't even seen it coming; there was no way to prepare for it. Ganondorf had strategically positioned himself between the two children, and locked his blades with Link's own. In a sudden burst of strength, he had shoved the boy to the ground and flown over to Zelda, an ability neither of them knew he possessed. The princess was so surprised by his sudden action, she had frozen and dropped her bow.

Before she could even try and reach it, the King of Evil had plunged one of his terrible swords into her chest. Link had screamed louder than he knew he could as he watched Ganondorf pick up her rapidly dying body and fling it carelessly over the edge of the tower.

Link sank to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes as the deck obscured below him. He had been helpless to do anything, he was still recovering from the sudden assault. How he had even won the fight after that was anyone's guess; somehow he had managed to get up to his foe's head and bury his sword there. As he had done so, he had felt a savage pleasure in returning the atrocious favour.

Now though, he felt nothing. Not a hint of happiness in saving the kingdom that proceeded to flood anyway; not a trace of sadness that the King of Hyrule had been buried under the waves with the dark fiend; not even anger at himself for his inability to help his best friend, who was laying lifelessly in her rightful kingdom. Simply an empty hole where Tetra should have been.

This wasn't fair. How was he expected to live with this? His one close friend on the entire Great Sea was now lying dead under it; she had left him completely alone. He lightly fingered the dagger that he had found in her cabin. When the pirate had first transformed into Zelda, she had given him the dagger and asked him to return it to her room. She had said it was important to her, one of the only heirlooms she had from her mother.

Link just stared out at the water, barely registering the light breeze tickling his face. That wasn't important now, was it? She was with her mother now, so she didn't need it. Link unsheathed it and glanced at his miserable reflection in the blade. She had left him all alone in this world and gone on to the next. He had lost his sword in the watery tomb where he had lost everything else, so he had no other way to join her.

Link tossed the idea around in his head, like he had done since he'd resurfaced. He couldn't live like this, to be sure. The pain was so overwhelming that he just wanted to die. Yet Tetra would want him to be strong. She would cheer him up and tell him to get up and move on.

Yet Tetra wasn't here now. She couldn't tell him anything anymore. Never again would he see her characteristically cross her arms and wink at him. Link clutched the dagger tightly as tears began to fall once more.

No, he had made up his mind. He _would_ see her again. She had left this world, but he couldn't stay here without her. Besides, his job as the hero was done; he had already fulfilled his destiny by defeating Ganondorf and "saving" Hyrule. He was authorized to leave whenever he so chose. And he chose now.

Link gritted his teeth as he stood up and headed over to the railing. No one would see; everyone was down below, mourning together with toasts and prayers. Blinking back some final tears, he raised the dagger to his chest.

He just wanted to die.

Soon he would be with Tetra once more.

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><p><em>Rest in peace Kayleigh. You'll never be forgotten.<em>

_June 30, 2011_


End file.
